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Staten Island's Cusick, Lanza talk Sandy with Biden in Albany

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo, right, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, speaks during a discussion on the state's rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Sandy, Tuesday, in the Red Room at the Capitol in Albany. The state has received federal disaster funds for relief and rebuilding, with an estimated $5.1 billion in the current fiscal year's budget.
(AP photo)

ALBANY -- Two Staten Island lawmakers got face-time Tuesday with Vice President Joe Biden, who was in Albany to address post-Sandy disaster recovery and rebuild efforts in the Empire State.

Assemblyman Michael Cusick and state Sen. Andrew Lanza told the Advance afterward that Biden "knew all about the buyouts here and said they make a lot of sense."

"He was up on his Staten Island facts," added Lanza.

After Staten Island and the state were pummeled by the deadly October 2012 superstorm, Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut in seeking federal aid to rebuild.

Congress OK'd $60 billion in funding, including Community Development Block Grant monies that Cuomo is using here in part to buy out storm-shattered homes at pre-Sandy value in Oakwood Beach and Ocean Breeze.

Cusick (D-Mid-Island) and Lanza (R-Staten Island) were among the lawmakers from around the state tapped by Cuomo to meet the Veep privately in the War Room outside the governor's office.

Lanza said Biden's message was clear: "You are doing a good job, we will continue to partner with you and we will see you this through."

President Obama made a historic trip here in the wake of Sandy, in November 2012, to visit relief operations on the East Shore and tour New Dorp Beach.

With Biden at his side, during a presentation in the Capitol's ceremonial Red Room, Cuomo detailed the state's aim to bolster its weather-detection system -- from 27 weather stations to 125 -- retrofit the city's subway system, which were flooded in Lower Manhattan, and establish a state college dedicated to emergency preparedness, including homeland and cyber security.

"We want to have the best weather detection system in the country," said Cuomo. "It is essential that we have this kind of information. We believe it will save lives and protect property."

Cuomo's overall plan includes a total of 1,000 projects at a cost of $16 billion, which will be largely paid for by federal funds.

"We have to rebuild in a way that you cannot be victimized by a similar storm again," said Biden, "because if we don't then we're wasting money."

Cuomo has pitched the infrastructure rebuild not only for future storm-surge prevention but as an economic development boost.

"The governor knows that we not only have to re-imagine New York for a New York reality, we have to re-imagine America for an American reality," said Biden. "And the reality is we have to get back on our game."

"Sandy, Irene, Lee, we have had a very tough few years," Cuomo told him.

"It was significant that the vice president came to Albany to speak about rebuilding after Sandy," Cusick told the Advance. "It just shows you how important the state of New York is to the country."

"It was nice to see the vice president and know he has our backs," said Lanza.

Lanza also said that Biden told them how, on a fly-over immediately post-storm, "he saw the way the shoreline was physically altered, and that he and the president knew that this was an out-of-the-ordinary storm."